The Aimhigher portal has been developed to provide those contemplating entering HE with access to the necessary information from which to make effective decisions. The website is managed by HERO and provides lots of information to prospective students regarding types of courses, institutions and financial matters.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) was created in 1996 as the single voice to promote the interests of further education colleges in England and Wales. The Association provides a broad range of services to its subscribers. It represents their interests locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Its management provides a pool of expertise on which the sector draws.

Business link is a useful website for businesses containing information on for e.g. financial assistance for training and developing staff.

The Council for Industry in Higher Education comprises members from industry and academia. Their mission is to advance all kinds of learning through the fostering of mutual understanding, co-operation and support between higher education and business.

The Council for Validating Universities is the only body in the UK specialising in good practice and standards for that aspect of higher education which concerns the validation of programmes of study by universities and colleges (awarding institutions) or delivery by other colleges (partner institutions).

The HELP CETL is based at the University of Plymouth Colleges (UPC) and is recognised as a national leader in HE in FE partnerships. It's aims are to collaborate on improving the student experience by developing staff, enhancing infrastructure and sharing good practice by investing in developing staff and teaching expertise, providing uniformly high quality student learning opportunities and infrastructure across the SW region, inspiring teaching and learning communities to research their practices, to share and disseminate and working with other national and international HE in FE consortia.

The DfES 14-19 Gateway is a one-stop shop for those engaged in transforming the 14-19 phase of learning. It provides access to up to date information, guidance and good practice on all aspects of education for this learning group including curriculum and qualifications, vocational learning, support and policy issues.

Edexcel - Success through qualifications The Edexcel website contains information about a wide range of qualifications and services for providers (schools, colleges, universities, employers), centres and students and collaborate closely with these groups to enable smooth delivery of courses and qualifications.

Learndirect is a network of online learning and information services. It was developed by Ufi (University for Industry) and works in partnership with the government to deliver online courses and information through a network of learning centres.

The Learning and Skills Council operates through 47 local offices and is responsible for the funding and planning education and training for over 16 yr olds in England. The website includes lots of information including workforce development and work-based training.

The Learning and Skills Network (LSN) is a strategic national resource for the development of policy and practice in post-16 education and training. The Agency is one of the two successor organisations of the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), taking forward LSDA's delivery work as its policy and strategic role becomes the new Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning (QIA). It provides a comprehensive training and conference programme for education practitioners as well as managing a wide range of research and development projects and activities, working closely with the Further Education and Learning and Skills sectors.

Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education promotes the quality of provision of UK HE. The site contains up-to-date information on the national qualifications framework and the Fundation Degree benchmark statement.

The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) has been set up to raise the quality of education and training throughout the learning and skills sector, by inspiring a culture of self-improvement and by supporting the move to self-regulation. The agency is a non-departmental public body covering the policy and strategic role formerly held by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA).

Established in 1996, the Research Centre is part of the Faculty for Higher Education at City College Norwich of Further and Higher Education and is a fully devolved designated research centre of Anglia Polytechnic University (APU). As a centre it offers a range of methodologies specialising in qualitative data gathering techniques particularly action research, case study and evaluation.

The Sector Skills Development Agency website provides information and contact details for the new Sector Skills Councils. Of these 25 employer-led, independent organisations, IT and Telecoms are covered by e-skills UK.

The Support for Success Quality Improvement programme is a new programme, which supports the post 16 sector. It is funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for the whole sector including colleges, work based learning providers, former external institutions etc and is delivered by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), in partnership with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education - England and Wales (NIACE) is a non-governmental organisation working for more and different adult learners. Many Further Educations Colleges are members of NIACE, and the Institute works closely with the sector on a range of policy and development issues. Further information including publications, briefings and conference reports are available on the Further Education section of the website.

Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) is the professional association for staff and educational developers in the UK, promoting innovation and good practice in higher education.

The Scottish Further Education Unit is a key development agency for Scotland's colleges delivering a range of services to promote and support changes in Scotland's colleges. The Centre works in partnership with colleges and leading to excellence in learning effectiveness and in college development. In addition to work supported by core funding, SFEU undertakes a number of project-based activities in curriculum and staff development designed to maintain the position of Scotland's colleges at the forefront of lifelong learning.